An active, character-driven Hogwarts experience set in the early 2000s. Unique items, plots, and features. Non-canon; this isn't Harry Potter's story, it's ours.
Post by Jade Arwell on Sept 28, 2021 2:22:48 GMT 10
Jade strode into the Great Hall with a purpose. She'd just left the pitch, having been rather bored of it all though was glad she'd gone and secretly supported her cousin. But once all that sporty nonsense was over, she had to focus back on reality. And that annoying annual ball was coming up very soon. She'd gotten her dress robes today, so it was official.
She'd taken the longest possible path back to the castle to make a decision. It was not an easy process of elimination, but it had to be gone. Jade had no issue going solo, but it'd be boring. May as well give it a go, right?
'I need to talk to you,' Jade said, stopping at the noisy Ravenclaw table where Jaxen Ashworth sat minding his own business. It was not an ideal place to chat, so she indicated to the doorway. It would do.
Not waiting for an answer, she strode away from the table and stood impatiently by the huge doors -- though made sure to pick a spot with less chance of being bumping into.
Last Edit: Sept 28, 2021 2:23:20 GMT 10 by Jade Arwell
Post by Jaxen Ashworth on Sept 28, 2021 2:33:54 GMT 10
Jax was in the middle of eating his food, intermittently looking around to scan the room for Mathias. There was unfortunately, no sign of his friend so far and Jaxen had come to the conclusion that he'd probably gone to find Nyx and congratulate her on the win.
That was fine, he was perfectly capable of eating alone. Some company would've been nice though, considering he'd spent the majority of his day alone in his dormitory.
Raising his fork to his mouth, he was forced to pause when Jade Arwell stopped in front of where he was sat and asked to speak with him. This was confusing and unexpected, considering he only really knew her from class and they'd never really had a conversation before.
He even looked around, wondering if maybe there was someone standing behind him that she might be addressing. Unfortunately, he was her intended target. Watching her walk away, he cast a longing look at his plate- that had hardly been touched and reluctantly followed.
"What is it?" he asked, wondering if one of his siblings had done something to invoke the wrath of this girl. That was the only reason he could think of for her to approach and initiate conversation with him.
Post by Jade Arwell on Sept 28, 2021 2:50:11 GMT 10
Oh good, he'd followed her. She didn't have to go back and yank his ear or something.
She huffed as Jaxen asked he asked what this was about, though in frustration at herself for how difficult this was now she was faced with a boy who she intended to ask out. It wasn't as if she liked him that way, but asking someone to be your date was technically asking them out right? Whatever. Gotta get this awful moment over with.
'Do you have a date yet for the Founder's Ball?' Jade asked, with a tone that implied she was almost certain he didn't. 'I was wondering if you'd like to go with me, I guess?' She couldn't even make eye contact now -- staring at her shoes instead, which still had bits of dried mud on them.
Why were these teenage social rituals so damn embarrassing?
'Look, I don't like you or whatever.' She sighed. 'Not like that, I mean. But we're supposed to bring someone, or they encourage us to or... the point is, I'm asking you out. To the ball. As my date. You cool with that?'
Oh, had she made him jump? That hadn't been her intention, but then she supposed that their weren't all that many fifth years who willingly spent time with first year. Personally, she hoped that if this was Toby then a student at the Gryffindor table would talk to him too. Someone other than their sister, that is.
"I didn't know that, no.", he perked up when the boy returned her random fact with a tidbit of his own. "I don't know much about muggle machinery, but it would be fascinating to see how it worked", she added. She was no tinkerer, but she did love to get hands on and find out how things worked! The same applied to magic and potions, although she'd had various successes with that much.
At the other end of the table, it seemed that some of the more boisterous members of their house were having a pretty good time! She would perhaps join in with the revelry in the common room later, but for now she wanted to eat before the food disappeared. Either this first year felt the same, or there really was something bothering him.
"I'm Martha, by the way. What's your name?", she then asked in an attempt to perhaps be a little more 'normal'. "I haven't had chance to talk to many first years yet. How are you finding it here?", she then asked. Wait, he was a first year, right? he could be second year, and she'd walked around with her eyes closed for a year.
Sinead slipped silently into the great hall and headed towards the Slytherin table. She hadn't gone to the match, preferring to stay away from the pitch given her last experience there. She knew she would have to attend Slytherin's next match though as she knew Amara would likely murder her if she didn't.
Taking a seat at the table, the young brunette looked around at her housemates briefly and then focused on her meal. As she ate, Sinead was lost in her thoughts about the Founders Ball. Sinead usually hated these kind of events as her family aside from her older sister Kaitlyn, would normally speak about their talents and disparagingly of their youngest member of the family, Sinead herself.
What was even worse was they had been encouraged to bring a date to the ball, something that for Sinead was a bit beyond her comfort zone as she had not interacted much on a social level. The brunette sighed as she shook her head to clear her thoughts and focused on finishing her meal.
The roaring crowds and chatter filled with excitement of today's game seemed to be what everyone was talking about. He tried his best to maintain different conversations with different people but it seemed a little challenging to balance more than two conversations while trying to eat.
He looked over to Reena and smiled with a soft wave of his hand as a welcoming gesture. He had just asked her to go to the ball... they were friends after all right? Nothing more at this stage, then again, Levi didn't mind if things went a different path but it would be up to her.
He turned around again to see Amara taking a seat with them. "Ravenclaw won? Well, at least that makes it easy for our team to win .... right?" He had to seek clarification as he never quite really understood how Quidditch worked and simply didn't really understand how a bludger could hit someone. He understood simple terminology but found it confusing when it was in-depth analytical conversation about the sport.
" Anyone got any Goss?" He asked as an open ended question to those around him.
Post by Elizabeth Doren on Sept 28, 2021 12:54:26 GMT 10
Elizabeth looked at Lindsey. The younger girl certainly seemed capable of handling whatever minor tasks given to her by the healers, Elizabeth suspected that it would be wiping the floors or something similar. Though she was not used to doing so, she shrugged. Other kids shrugged. Elizabeth could do other kids stuff, too.
She glanced at Hilfiger and gestured vaguely at the celebrating Ravenclaws, like it was obvious that they'd won. Of course, it was more obvious when Amara announced it. Elizabeth knew she would've watched the game. As a captain, she had the responsibility. Elizabeth would've admired that if she didn't hate Quidditch so much.
Elizabeth wrinkled her nose at the term 'Goss.' What did that even mean? Elizabeth rarely understood new abbreviations or slang, and found it frustrating that every time she thought she'd heard it all, a new word developed. She kept silent in order to figure out what it was that Hilfiger wanted.
Post by Reena Ashworth on Sept 28, 2021 14:24:14 GMT 10
She returned Levi‘s smile before she looked back down, wondering why she was feeling shy all of a sudden. She hadn’t before, so what happened?
Reena looked up briefly when Seabrook answered Levi‘s question, confirming her own assumptions. She suddenly was very interested in her food however, yet she thought about asking whether King had also been hit by a Bludger. She hadn’t seen her yet.
Hm? She turned her head towards Seabrook in surprise when she was spoken to directly. The mention of Mathias Sallow made her metaphorical alarm bells ring but she concluded that Seabrook couldn’t know about anything that was going on with her and Jax. She knew for a fact that her brother avoided Seabrook. In fact, he had even advised her to keep her distance. But he had also said that about Mardling and he had turned out quite nice and helpful.
Reena hesitated slightly to answer questions about her brother, being guarded in revealing anything about her family really, but she figured this was a harmless enough question. Seabrook could easily find that out herself, being in a class with both boys mentioned.
Her thought process lasted merely seconds before she answered a strangley chipper Seabrook: “Yes, I am. Sallow? I believe so, yes. No guarantee though, sorry Seabrook“
After a moment of contemplation she dared to ask: “Why?“ She couldn’t imagine Jax or Sallow had been bothering her so her question was genuine interest- although she kept her tone neutral, just in case the presumably good mood of Seabrook‘s was fickle.
Last Edit: Sept 28, 2021 16:25:40 GMT 10 by Reena Ashworth
Perhaps it was time that Levi did address the grey elephant. In his mind, he did feel a little nervous about taking Reena to the the ball. She did make it clear that it was just as friends but it's interesting to see that Levi actually felt this way considering he also agreed to go as friends. Did she think differently of it? Or did she just have the same nerves that Levi did.
He looked over towards her as he smiled softly and winked his eye. He picked up his plate and moved himself over to sit next to her. " Hope you don't mind me joining you? Makes the conversation easier. Oh sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you there.." He replied quickly as he noticed her mid way through a conversation as he decided to settle in comfortably next to her.
" So whatchya wearing for the ball? Do we need to match or what?" He asked as he continued to chomp down on his food as he looked over to maintain eye contact. " Remind me again, is there a theme or just a standard ball? Not like a Yule Ball right? " He asked again covering his mouth with his hand as he maintained eye contact. He finished the food in his mouth and took a sip of his water before turning over to her once again. " Sorry, so yeah, what are you gonna wear?" He smiled softly once again but this time felt something a little different. Why was he nervous ? His palms started getting sweaty as he broke his eye contact rather quickly and looked down.
Post by Tobias Twiggs on Sept 28, 2021 22:02:54 GMT 10
Tobias was buzzing. Joe had practically singlehandedly won Ravenclaw the match and had done so without sustaining a single injury. He couldn't celebrate with his Ravenclaw buddies, but he was certainly going to be celebrating his own way- a one man party of his own creation.
He unfortunately hadn't seen Joe on his way to the hall, but that just meant tomorrow at Breakfast, his friend would be in for a treat (and likely a lot of hollering). For now though, he had to be content to go to his own table and fill his belly with delicious food- even if dessert was cancelled.
Dashing over to the Gryffindor table, he planted himself on the bench and began heaping piles of food onto his plate- watching Quidditch was exciting and sure built up an appetite, almost as much as playing Quidditch did. Around him there were mixed opinions on who should've won the game- most of his fellow lions seemed to favour Hufflepuff. That was only because they didn't know what the bloody hell they were talking about.
Joe was a God among men... There was a reason his last name was 'King'.
Post by Jaxen Ashworth on Sept 28, 2021 23:23:16 GMT 10
Jaxen was a little taken aback by Jade's attitude when he asked what she'd wanted him for. Apparently he was supposed to be able to read minds now? That seemed to be the way girls tended to think, he had two sisters- he knew exactly the kind of looks they could give when he didn't know exactly what they were mad about the moment they verbalized their outrage.
He would've definitely preferred to have been left in peace to finish his dinner, instead of being huffed at by a girl who, to be quite honest, he was surprised she even knew his name. He just wanted her to say whatever it was that she needed to say so that he could resume his meal.
Then she asked him to the ball.
Jax gawked at her, unsure if he'd heard correctly. Though there wasn't much room for misinterpretation. For the briefest of moments, he was confused but then she explained more thoroughly and then he just felt kind of gross and depleted. It wasn't like he liked her, Jaxen hadn't really noticed any of the girls in his class before- not like that at least. But, it was his first time attending the ball and he'd kind of hoped to be going with a friend or someone who actually enjoyed his company.
Girls really were brutal, didn't really seem to care about guys feelings at all.
"Um... No, I don't have a date yet" he answered, shaking his head as if he couldn't quite believe this was happening. Part of him wanted to tell her where to go but then a small voice in the back of his head stopped him and what if she was just too embarrassed at the idea of attending the ball alone.
Ugh.
"Why me?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest and staring down at her. "Don't you have like... A dozen friends you could ask?" he had just been planning on going with a friend or taking Reena to save her from having to attend alone- why had Jade not thought of this? Or had everyone she'd asked already turned her down?
Shaking his head, hands falling to his side "sure Jade, I'm cool with that" even as he said it, he thought he didn't sound particularly enthusiastic about it. But his whole life was about ensuring other people were happy, so what was one more night of the same? Didn't make a difference to him.
Post by Jade Arwell on Sept 29, 2021 2:40:14 GMT 10
Jade shrugged at first, not really wanting to answer, but it was a valid question and one she would absolutely need to know if anyone asked her out. Especially if she hardly knew them. It was awkward and embarrassing though, ugh.
'A dozen friends?' she scoffed, despite herself, and stared at her shoes again. 'No, hardly. I have like... three? Maybe.' She shrugged again, clearly uncomfortable about counting her small group of friends.
Of course, she had more friends than that but they weren't the kind of friends she hung out with a lot and who she told her secrets to. Though it baffled her that he thought she had that many people wanting to be friends with her. She supposed, he probably saw her in a lot of loud groups and assumed.
'Look, truth is, I think this ball is stupid.' Jade frowned, crossing her arms as she met his gaze again. 'I don't even want to wear a ridiculous girl's dress robes to this thing, but it's all I could get. I don't need a date, but I also don't want to sit bored and awkward while everyone else buddies up. I picked you because you're not annoying or too loud or expect any lovey-dovey stuff just because we're dates.'
She shrugged again, which was revealing itself to be a sign of her nervousness or embarrassment. He agreed to go with her, but now Jade wasn't so sure.
'But, whatever.' She frowned, eyeing her shoes. 'If you'd be miserable, just say it. You don't have to go with me if you don't want to. Could probably do better. I mean, I'm not taking you hostage I just thought you'd be a safe option so maybe this ball won't be a complete waste.'
She shrugged again, unable to help herself. Her shoes were quite muddy; she needed to clean them. Was that tiny burn stain always there, on the floor?
Post by Jonathan King on Sept 29, 2021 2:50:18 GMT 10
As Joe arrived at Dinner from the Hospital Wing, he was feeling exhausted. He had used up most of his energy at the match and now he was starving. He just wanted to sit down and eat as much as he possibly could before the food vanished.
His arrival did not go unnoticed however and as he approached his House table he was greeted by cheers that made his face turn hot.
He waved at a group of sixth or seventh years (how would he know, some of them looked like twenty!) as they started chanting for him.
Joe was scanning the table for Ryan and was a little disappointed, although not surprised to not find him.
He did spot Jay however and before anyone else could try to get his attention he quickly sat down next to him and started piling up his plate with as much food it could possibly hold.
“Hello“, he said happily between shoveling his meal into his mouth. “Enjoyed the match?“
Somewhere from the lines of sixth (or seventh) years did he hear someone say something like:“Talk about eating like a king“
And Joe almost spit out his food as he tried to hold in his laughter. Tears in his eyes he looked around and noticed the red haired girl who looked suspiciously familiar.
“Sorry, did I spit at you? Are you Toby’s sister too?“, he asked, kinda confused about who Jay was talking to. Did Emmy have a twin?
Post by Lindsey Bryce on Sept 29, 2021 7:56:08 GMT 10
Lindsey looked up at Levi and Reena joined her at the Slytherin Table and she smiled. At his question, she glanced over at the celebrating Ravenclaw table, she was about to answer when Amara came into the picture and spoke. The next phrase out of her mouth was about someone being knocked out and she looked up with some concern.
"I hope she was okay in the end," Lindsey said with concern before she took another bite of her food and looked up at everyone with a smile on her face. Looking up, she smiled at Sinead as she sat down, gave a wave, not sure if she would see her or not. Lindsey didn't pay much mind to the conversations, looking at her plate as she ate, every now and then looking up to see who was talking.
Post by Jaxen Ashworth on Sept 29, 2021 22:44:51 GMT 10
Jaxen almost regretted his interrogation when he noticed how uncomfortable Jade began to look as she explained herself. This was an uncomfortable conversation and he feared that he was probably making it worse by asking stupid questions that didn't necessarily need an answer.
He'd always assumed Jade was pretty popular among her peers, but maybe three Gryffindors were loud enough to sound like a whole army of them. That wasn't too much of a stretch, considering even now he could hear the ruckus coming from their table that was almost loud enough to rival the celebratory cheering coming from the Ravenclaw's in the room.
It seemed Jade wasn't fond of the idea of the ball in general, which was odd considering the majority of their classmates were looking forward to it and even excited about the prospect of attending. It was an excuse to dress up and have fun before they left for the holidays... Apparently not everyone felt that way.
"No- I wouldn't be miserable" he made the decision subconsciously. Words leaving his mouth before he had a chance to thoroughly think them through. "I'll be your date, it'll be fun... Right?" or he'd make sure she had fun, because even if he didn't particularly like being used as a buffer, everyone deserved to enjoy their time at a party.
It was his first time attending the ball. It wasn't like he wanted to be stood in a corner while all his friends paired off either.
"I'll see you there... At the ball... I mean" running a nervous hand through his hair, he smiled at her. Then turned around and walked back to where his plate sat abandoned on the table. This was not how he'd imagined his night going, but maybe it wasn't such a bad thing- at least now he wouldn't be forced to endure a boring event alone.
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